"I didn't get the care I would have expected."

Recently, I noticed my right foot was swollen and had a small red patch on it. By lunch time the next day, the red patch had areas half way up my shin, was hot to touch and my foot was swollen like a balloon.

I made an appointment to see a GP, the first available, and was offered a 4pm appointment with the doctor. I called to check if they were running on time and was told there was 1 ahead of me. I was seen at 5.20pm and offered antibiotic cream and the doctor didn’t even look at the swelling or redness.

When I pointed out that the chemist would be closed before I got there and was there anything I could do at home for the pain in my leg, I was told - we don’t keep a supply of strong pain killers here.

The doctor took a phone call from another doctor during my appointment and when one of my children said something to the other, the doctor menacingly waved a finger in my face and said “Shoosh!”.

The doctor called me a week later to see how I was. I explained that the rash on my foot was nearly gone but that my foot still looked like it belong to an elephant and I still had a hot, red patch up the front of my leg which was still extremely painful.

The doctor  laughed and said Don’t you think this is something you should have come in to show us ha ha ha.

I replied that I HAD come in to show them the previous week and they had done nothing about it.

I then hung up before as I was too upset and annoyed at the doctor laughing at me to continue the conversation.